Conservation and traffic in the Southeast

an elegant solution to a conservation crisis

The Maasai Mara National Reserve only covers around half of the Mara ecosystem, the remainder is made up of land owned by the local Maasai people.

During the general election campaign of 2010, one of the candidates came up with the vote-winning wheeze of dividing up this communal land into small parcels for private ownership. It was not long before these new landowners started to sell their plots off to foreigners for holiday homes or to build their own homesteads and lodges. In other words the whole area had suddenly come under serious and immediate threat from development.

From around 2012 a number of pioneering conservationists recognised the problem and came up with an innovative solution. After years of complex negotiations with the many Maasai landowners, they were eventually able to amalgamate the many small parcels of land into conservancies.

The deal was that, in return for stopping all development and keeping their domestic herds out of large areas, the local people would be compensated by receiving a significant share of the tourism revenues.

The safari operators then go to construct a range of camps and lodges, in the hope that enough guests could be tempted into these areas to provide enough revenue to hold up their end of the deal.

The conservancies have had differing degrees of success. Core areas like Mara Olare Motorogi, Mara North and Mara Naboisho have proved a great success, the landscapes have been secured for wildlife. Other more peripheral areas are still struggling to keep up their end of the bargain and continue to experience human encroachment.

This Mara Southeast area does experience considerable incursion from domestic animals, the local Maasai people grazing ever bigger herds and putting increasing pressure on wildlife. The issue is being addressed by the camp owners, but it remains to be seen quite how successful they will be, especially given that it falls up the one lodge here to generate all the necessary revenues.

Your stay on one of these conservancies represents a very real and significant contribution to these conservation efforts. Not only will you benefit from the low visitor traffic and unusually broad range of safari activities, but you will do so in the certain knowledge that your money has been spent in a very positive direction.